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| DOH-EV announced that the region already secured its first allocation of Pfizer vaccines and it has already been transported to Ormoc City. Photo by CAAP-VIII/Facebook (Illustration purposes only). |
TACLOBAN CITY — In a press release today, June 22, the Department of Health - Eastern Visayas announced that the region already secured its first allocation of Pfizer vaccines and it has already been transported to Ormoc City.
Read the press release here:
The region received its first batch of Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 (BNT162b2), commonly referred to as Pfizer vaccines, today, June 22, 2021. A total of 1,170 doses of Pfizer vaccines arrived this morning at the Tacloban DZR Airport and have been transported directly to Ormoc City by a third-party logistics team contracted by the DOH Central Office. It will be intended for the inoculation of the remaining eligible population for Priority Groups A1 or workers in frontline health services, Senior Citizens or Priority Group A2, and Priority Group A3 or Adults with Co-morbidities.
Following a stringent evaluation by the central and regional office of the DOH, the City Health Office (CHO) of Ormoc City, together with Mayor Richard Gomez, this is the first time that the region will be implementing an Ultra-Low vaccination as per the sensitive handling requirements of Pfizer Vaccines.
The National Task Force against COVID-19 Vaccine Cluster identified Ormoc City as the pilot implementer of the Pfizer vaccine inoculation to try as test run for the administration of Pfizer vaccine in the region in consideration of cold chain capacity requirements due to its cold chain facility located at the Ormoc City Superdome, and the presence of an adequate vaccination team where the CHO converged into one big team its 8 vaccination teams, respectively. The DOH EVCHD sent a team to Ormoc City for technical assistance as to proper handling, and preparation of vaccines, an ocular inspection of their cold chain facility, and necessary assessment of their vaccination team, consistent with the guidelines of the National Vaccine Operation Center.
This marks another milestone for the intensified vaccination activities in the region and gives a promising reinforcement to the vaccination program and advocacy efforts in Eastern Visayas. The DOH EVCHD expects additional allocation of Pfizer vaccines for the region in the coming weeks.
As the fight against COVID-19 continues and with the presence of an additional vaccine option in the region, the agency still emphasizes that the best vaccine remains to be the one available.
The DOH EVCHD continues to remind all Local Government Units (LGUs) to strictly follow the Prioritization Framework set by the national government in the implementation of the COVID-19 vaccination program.
The DOH EVCHD continues to appeal to everyone to still practice the minimum public health standards and abide by the quarantine protocols set by each respective LGU. (DOH/PR)